Lucy had been fighting something. She was having the occasional fever and she had been tugging on her ear. She was even turning her pacifier to the side and chewing on it. I thought for sure she was teething, with her two-year molars, and the ear infection came with it.
I stayed home with her a few days and it seemed like she got better. Later that week it came back; but, this time it didn't subside. Finally, we decided to take her to the doctor. She needed to get that ear infection taken care of. On that Wednesday morning, we took her in. She had one ear infection and the other ear was getting one too. Poor girl. We picked up some oral antibiotics and headed home.
That night Lucy started to say, "Ouchie." We had also started to notice her favoring her leg. We thought for sure that she had hit her knee at DayCare or something similar. But, by the next day, the favoring had become a limp, and she wouldn't even put weight on her right leg. I continued to think it had nothing to do with her fever and ear infections. Why would it? Heath got paranoid enough that he decided to call our doctor.
"Cori, Dr. B sounded really concerned. She wants me to bring Lucy in right away."
At that point it was still unclear to us how the two could be linked. We had done some googling that only left us freaked out. Apparently, an infection can settle in a joint...like a hip joint.
We walked into the same waiting room that we were just in the day before. This time, our hearts were beating just a bit faster. I kept telling Heath, and myself, "It's going to be alright. She'll be just fine."
Our doctor didn't seem to be nervous or worrisome. It helped calm our nerves. She said she wanted to take an x-ray, to make sure it wasn't her hip bone, and that they wanted to take some blood. They took some blood and while the test was running, we were escorted to the x-ray room. It took both of us to hold her down.
The x-ray? Normal.
Great. We sat in the examination room, playing with a puzzle. There was an odd sense of optimism.
The next few moments were kind of a blur. The doctor walked in, accompanied by three nurses. She didn't say anything but, "Lucy is very sick."
I know that she followed up by saying that she was sending her to Children's Hospital, they would run an IV, and that Lucy's white blood cells were doubled. I just can't remember in what order. I was still stuck on, "Lucy is very sick."
I'd be lying if I said that cancer hadn't crossed my mind.
I managed to muster, "So, she'll be going by ambulance?"
"Yes. I'll call and they will be expecting you."
We asked what she thought it could possibly be. She said an infection in her joint or possibly even her appendix, which would be very rare.
In the blur of movement and conversation, we had to hold Lucy down for the nurses to insert an IV. Heath sat in the corner chair, unable to watch the needle penetrate Lucy's skin. I stood over Lucy, telling her that it would be okay - not knowing if I was lying or not. My fearful tears began to fall near Lucy's head.
The doctor re-entered to tell us that Children's had requested Lucy to come in "as-is". That way they could run accurate tests once she arrived. We were then given the option to drive her up; we took it.
As long as the drive to Omaha should have been, it really wasn't. We took turns calling our family members and trying to give them a run-down of what just happened. I only called my mom and started crying so hysterically, that Heath had to call everyone else for me. It was rough; but, Heath was so brave for me and Lucy. I am very thankful.
We entered the ER at Children's to wait for almost two hours. My fear turned to annoyance and then quickly to anger. I watched a girl with a sprained ankle go in before us. Didn't they know that Lucy was "very sick"? Being in an urban hospital was very different than what I was used to. We were literally just being shuffled around. We met numerous nurses and doctors. We had to retell our story to several people.
We finally made it to an ER examination room at about 5:30 pm. They took more blood, while I had to hold Lucy down again. They also took her vitals and looked in her ears. The IV also needed replaced to be compatible with their equipment. It was very hard for me to accompany them, holding Lucy still, against her will. I just wished I could explain to her what was going on.
We asked the ER nurse what they thought it was. He said that they were testing her for blood infections and so on. He explained a little more; but, my mind stayed wrapped around blood infection. It scared me.
Every time Heath and I were in the room alone, we would obsess over what was going on and all the horrible, possible outcomes. Thank goodness I had scared my mom on the phone enough that she had immediately headed north, with my sister and her family. They came just at the right time. I was verging on a complete breakdown.
One of the several doctors we met with ordered an ultrasound. By the time we go into the ultrasound room, it was about 8:30 pm. They found no fluid on her hip joint. So, basically, it was back to the drawing board. The tech called the radiologist. He said to check her ovaries. That scared me too. I shuttered at the thought of little Lucy not being able to have children of her own. At some point, they also checked her appendix.
We were ushered back to the room and then told that her appendix had an abscess (a pocket of infection). It had more than likely ruptured. They wanted to do a CT scan, to confirm. We finally had the CT scan at around 10:30 pm. My family had left once they found out more about what was going on.
Again, we had to hold Lucy down while they strapped her in. She was so tired at that point; we all were. Thankfully she fell asleep in the machine. The CT confirmed an abscess around the appendix. It was also surrounding her bladder, her ovaries, her hip muscles, lower intestine, and I think they even said it involved her uterus. Apparently her immune system was so good that her organs walled the infection in. They kept it in one place - thank God.
We were told that the area was too inflamed and had a lot of puss, etc. around it. They couldn't take her appendix out without first cleaning the abscess out. They would have to do surgery to drain out the infection. Then, she would have to wear a bag for a week. The infection would continue to drain out, into the bag. It sounded like we had at least a couple months of this stuff left. But, for the night, we would have to stay in the hospital. Lucy would have surgery scheduled for the following day.
We finally got into a room at midnight. The day marked what would be one of the longest days of my life. Once the floor nurses poked and prodded on Lucy again, while I held her down for the hundredth time, we were left alone.
Heath was in street clothes and I had come from work, so I stood there in dress slacks and high heels. Of course, the one freaking day I actually wear heels! We decided that I would stay with Lucy. He would run out to get us some food, some pajamas, and some toothbrushes.
He left and I just sat there watching Lucy. I started to cry and pray again; but, very few tears fell. I think I was out of tears for the day. Little did I know, but Heath was sitting in the parking lot crying and praying too. Brave faces are hard to sustain. Sometimes all you can do is ask God for help and for the strength to make it through the following days.
- To Be Continued -
Oh Cori, I cannot imagine what you guys have been through. I'm so thankful Lucy is doing better. Prayers have been surrounding that little gal and yourselves.
ReplyDelete